Wednesday, 4 April 2012

Danish Football Players Say No to Artificial Pitches

Whilst
we await the results of the Football League’s online survey regarding views on
whether artificial pitches should be used in first team matches, Spillerforeningen,
the Danish Football Players’ Association has announced the results of its own survey
about artificial pitches. Players from the association were asked about their
opinions on the use of artificial turf, and how playing on natural turf differs
from artificial turf.

The
findings show that “96% of the Superliga (Danish football championship
tournament) players believe that the quality of the Danish pitches should be
improved by investing more money in natural turf rather than artificial turf”,
and that “83% of the Superliga players think that the game changes
fundamentally when played on artificial turf” according to the FIFPro website.

Director
of the Danish PFA, Mads Øland said of artificial pitches “The core of the game
itself changes when it is played on artificial turf. The ball bounces
differently and gains more speed and there are fewer duels and sliding tackles.
It is basically a different game all together”.

We’d
also like to hear your opinions about the possible re-introduction of
artificial pitches to the Football League. If you’d like to get in touch, please
leave your comments on our Facebook page or via Twitter @MansfieldSand.